People v. Shedrick

104 A.D.2d 263, 482 N.Y.S.2d 939, 1984 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 20667
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 14, 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 104 A.D.2d 263 (People v. Shedrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Shedrick, 104 A.D.2d 263, 482 N.Y.S.2d 939, 1984 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 20667 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Moule, J.

At 9:30 a.m. on January 22, 1980, the bludgeoned bodies of Frank and Virginia Kiff were found by their daughter in their home on West Washington Boulevard in the Village of Bath. The body of Mrs. Kiff, age 74, was in a sitting room near the bathroom; that of Mr. Kiff, age 79, was in the pantry near the kitchen. Both bodies were fully clothed and lay in pools of blood. The kitchen door leading to the rear porch was slightly ajar and the window glass in it had been broken; shards of glass were on the kitchen floor. Mrs. Kiff still had on a large diamond ring on her right hand and her wedding band, but her purse and a desk in the sitting room near her body appeared to have been ransacked. Mr. Kiff was not wearing any jewelry when found; his wallet, located near his body, contained no currency.

The victims were pronounced dead by the Steuben County Coroner shortly after 10:00 a.m. that day; the Coroner believed they had died between 9 and 11 hours earlier. An autopsy revealed that the deaths resulted from multiple blows to the head with a heavy instrument.

Police learned that the Kiffs had been playing bridge on the night of January 21, 1980 at the nearby Wightman Primary School. Witnesses told police that the Kiffs had left the school at approximately 11:20 p.m. Police estimated that it took but 45 seconds to drive from the school to the Kiff residence. A friend of the victims observed that, at the school, Mr. Kiff was wearing a large diamond ring and that Mrs. Kiff, in addition to wearing the diamond ring on her right hand and wedding band, was wearing her engagement ring.

[265]*265Defendant and two others, Edward Ames and Harry Barnes, were arrested for an unrelated matter, possession of stolen coins, on the afternoon of January 22, 1980. All three, along with defendant’s sister, Wanda Shedrick, were later accused of committing the Kiff homicides. Defendant was subsequently charged in a 10-count indictment with two counts each of intentional murder (Penal Law, § 125.25, subd 1), felony murder (Penal Law, § 125.25, subd 3), first degree robbery (Penal Law, § 160.15, subd 1), petit larceny (Penal Law, § 155.25), and one count each of first degree burglary (Penal Law, § 140.30, subd 2) and fourth degree conspiracy (Penal Law, § 105.10, subd 2).1

Defendant moved for a change of venue in October, 1980. Defendant’s application was subsequently denied by our court on the ground that defendant had failed to show he could not receive a fair trial in Steuben County. It was ordered, however, that the trial be “held in a courthouse other than the one at Bath”. Defendant was further informed by the court in its order that he could make another application in the event that jury selection showed that an impartial jury could not be selected. Defendant subsequently made a second application for a change of venue on the eve of jury selection, which we rejected as premature. Jury selection was completed without further application; significantly, defendant failed to exhaust his peremptory challenges.

At trial, the People’s case was based entirely on the testimony of one of defendant’s alleged accomplices, Edward Ames, and two admissions defendant was alleged to have made while awaiting trial. No physical evidence connecting defendant to the crime was presented.

Ames testified that he met defendant, who was then his roommate, at a Bath pool hall on the afternoon of January 21, 1980. They left to go to the home of Harry Barnes, a mutual friend, “To split up some coins” that Ames had stolen earlier in the day. The three went to the Bath bowling alley to get something to eat, and then took a taxicab to a laundromat on Washington Street where they used a coin change machine to convert 50-cent pieces into quarters. They left the laundromat and walked across the street to a parking lot where they met Wanda, defendant’s sister and Ames’ girlfriend; she was driving a green Maverick. The group decided to drive to defendant’s parents’ home in Hammondsport where they met defendant’s parents and two brothers, Bill, Jr., and Sherlock.

[266]*266Ames stated that Bill, Jr., drove him, defendant and Barnes to a nearby store to buy beer and gas. After they returned to the Shedricks’ home, the group drank beer in the driveway and, later, defendant, Wanda, Barnes and Ames went into the house where defendant explained “a burglary that he wanted to do”. Defendant stated that Barnes and Ames were to keep watch outside while Wanda waited in the car and he entered the house. Defendant identified the proposed victims as the owners of the Pontiac dealership in Bath. The four left the Shedrick home at around 10:30 p.m., drove to the primary school in Bath, and drove back to the West Washington Street laundromat. Barnes and Ames walked inside to change more coins as the others waited in the car. Defendant then came in and asked Ames to get the tire iron out of the trunk. Ames was familiar with the iron because he has used it earlier in the day; he obtained the trunk key from Wanda, opened the trunk and laid the iron on the ground behind the car. Ames returned the keys to Wanda and walked back into the laundromat. Ames stated that defendant had been standing next to the car and that he did not see the iron again that evening.

Ames further testified that, shortly thereafter, defendant walked into the laundromat to summon him and Barnes. The four drove to Pine Street, a street intersecting West Washington Boulevard near the Kiffs’ home, exited the car and walked to the Kiff residence; no car was in the driveway and no lights were on in the house. Barnes walked to the far side of the house while Ames hid in the back yard. Defendant walked up the back porch to the door. Ames next heard “sounds like glass breaking and a door being pushed in”. Ames saw an individual walk by the driveway, apparently taking a shortcut, while defendant was in the house. A few moments later, Ames heard a dog bark and saw a car pull into the Kiff driveway while defendant was still inside the house. Ames saw some lights turned on in the front of the house and then heard the screams of a man and a woman. Through a window visible from his hiding spot, Ames saw a silhouette of a male striking downward onto something laying on the floor.

After he saw defendant run from the house about 15 minutes later, Ames went over to the window and saw a body laying on the floor in a pool of blood. Ames recalled that a table light and an overhead light in the room had been turned on. Ames then ran toward Pine Street and jumped into the waiting car. Wanda drove the group to defendant’s and Ames’ apartment at 30 Buell Street. Defendant indicated that “it didn’t go as planned”, walked inside alone and returned wearing different clothing. [267]*267Wanda then dropped Barnes off near his apartment and drove the others to the Eatons’ house on Morris Street. Defendant walked inside alone; Ames followed 15 minutes later.

Defendant and Ames left after watching some television and walked to Ames’ nephew’s home. During this walk, defendant displayed two rings and some paper currency to Ames. After smoking marijuana with Ames’ nephew, defendant and Ames returned to the Eaton’s where they spent the night.

Ames testified that upon returning to the apartment he shared with defendant on the following afternoon he opened defendant’s closet and saw the tire iron he had taken out of the car the night before.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Brady
2021 NY Slip Op 03951 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2021)
Rivera v. People
64 V.I. 540 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2016)
DUPLEASIS, HILLERY M., PEOPLE v
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2013
People v. Dupleasis
112 A.D.3d 1318 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2013)
Whitley v. Ercole
725 F. Supp. 2d 398 (S.D. New York, 2010)
People v. White
43 A.D.3d 1407 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2007)
People v. Black
38 A.D.3d 1283 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2007)
People v. Walek
28 A.D.3d 1246 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2006)
People v. Thomas
27 A.D.3d 1075 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2006)
People v. Wallace
306 A.D.2d 802 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2003)
People v. Levandowski
190 Misc. 2d 738 (New York Supreme Court, 2002)
People v. Burns
281 A.D.2d 704 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2001)
People v. Tavares
273 A.D.2d 707 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2000)
People v. Thibodeau
267 A.D.2d 952 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)
People v. Nicholson
265 A.D.2d 825 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)
People v. Boyd
254 A.D.2d 740 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1998)
People v. Drake
247 A.D.2d 855 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1998)
People v. Batista
235 A.D.2d 631 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997)
People v. Meehan
229 A.D.2d 715 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
People v. Mann
216 A.D.2d 796 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 A.D.2d 263, 482 N.Y.S.2d 939, 1984 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 20667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-shedrick-nyappdiv-1984.